Tristus' Metal Life 101
One Release Per Artist
Dear freakin' LORD...this was nearly impossible. Or at least it felt that way. For the most part; you could strand me in some remote cabin and leave these 101 albums...and I'd be satiated...mostly. There were heavily debated inclusions and exclusions. Some of them bring the question, "Why the hell THAT one?" There is a sloppily contemplated reason for each, but that's about it for statistical calculation. You just gotta go for it. And I decided to do it here because I'm the boss and can put them in NO PARTICULAR ORDER, with no prompt to begin with a "Top 10" or any nonsense of the sort. And there's still, "Gah! I didn't put insert band in there!" If you're here - then I assume you love metal enough to know what I went through...
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The seemingly oddball releases on this list merely have a personal reason, memory, or standout quality for it being the one representation of that band. So it's one album per band. Continuing on the path of revered albums, the following are releases to be considered runners-up...and are either directly related to the chosen releases but honestly; I feel horrible leaving them out! Being a triple-decade metal fanatic makes it painful as hell to limit to even 101!!! I also give a bit of explanation as to why these are close to being as revered as the above ones.
25 MORE!
*Hell - Human Remains & Curse And Chapter (Tie between the two. So I cheated. So?! This band is just now catching up with fans' hearts. And they have stolen mine!)
*Fleshgrind - Destined for Defilement (Probably THE album that got me into the more "brutal" and "slammy" stuff before it was a thang.)
*Woods Of Ypres - 5: Grey Skies And Electric Light (If I'd have gotten into this band a bit earlier than I did, I might consider this one integral to my life. It's that good, yet it came along to my ears a bit late. Very worthy of mention. RIP, David Gold.)
*Gris - Il Etait Une Foret (Just brilliant depressive black metal from "they-who-were-Niflheim" with very adventurous [if such can be said within depresiveness] and nearly-progressive qualities.)
*Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding (The man did better than his Maiden buddies during this time, and this album shows it loud and clear!)
*Helstar - Nosferatu (It's just fucking KILLER metal,.. with one of the best singers in the biz.)
*Slayer - South Of Heaven (Though obviously more of a Testament-head back in the day when looking for evil-vibed thrash, I cannot deny that this one had a proper place in my little metal heart.)
*Onward - Reawaken (A power/prog metal shredfest with some of the ballsiest vocals in the genre. Plus, there's an element of mysticism that transports you to a land not unlike He-Man's "Eternia".)
*Overkill - Horrorscope (Sinister thrash with a chugginess that paved the way for acts like Nevermore and Communic.)
*Neurosis - Through Silver In Blood - (The rough-n'-tough true hardcore grit with undeniable - and somewhat uncharted , for the time - atmosphere and progressive, organic viscera somehow pummeled my soul into a waking state of what it must feel like to revisit successfully beating an enemy to death within ones dreams...the euphoric revisionist high of violent victories, all under a haze of fury.)
*Deeds Of Flesh - Inbreeding The Anthropophagi (A great example of OSDM with a bit more pus on top. A "BDM" forefather.)
*Nargaroth - Black Metal Ist Krieg (The cliche' warcry of the corpsepainted!)
*Gehenna - First Spell ("Ghostly" and black metal work so well together! A big influence...)
*Night In Gales - Towards The Twilight (Beautiful melodies with furious execution makes this one have a place in my heart.)
*Mercenary - Everblack (A lovely marriage of melodeath and power metal that was something I had previously wished for coming true when I first got this.)
*Bolt Thrower - Warmaster (No-nonsense death metal epitomized.)
*Coroner - Mental Vortex (A technical, methodically stylized exercise in thrash brilliance.)
*Covenant - Nexus Polaris (The "cosmic" focus that has become more commonplace in black-rooted metal acts owes a lot to this spacey, neo-classical romp.)
*Mindrot - Dawning (Grind and doom melded in ways that were very unique for the era.)
*Enslaved - Eld (The adventurous riffs and structures within a clear and atmospheric-yet-oddly-dry-and-punchy production got me to see more opportunity within the boundaries of black metal.)
*Celestial Season - Solar Lovers (The pillowy, laid-back, and sedated sound of this violin-laced album was a great soundtrack to my incessant makeout-sessions as a teen.)
*Tiamat - The Astral Sleep (Though it was "Wildhoney" that got me into this unconventional [at the time] atmos-death band - who didn't stay that was for long, mind you - it was going back and finding their gnarly proto-black death metal that made me latch onto them as a staple in extreme music's history.)
*Evereve - Seasons (Some of the most diverse, yet cohesive, gothic doom ever laid down to a recorder. A 10/10 collection of sorrow and expression, made all the sadder with the knowledge of the vocalist's fate.)
*Human Remains - Using Sickness As A Hero (Bringing light to the concept of being serious about being wacky, this unconventional grind spazzout still sounds as alien today as it did in its heyday.)
As an obsessive and fanatically addicted music-buff, this truly isn't all of the releases that I find essential to my life; but narrowing down to a list of 101 with a following list of runners-up is a good way to organize a bit. Stay true to your heart, my metal friends...never letting anyone belittle your love for the metallic!
2-20-14
TTSNSN